1 . Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of pallets and pallets upon which cargo may be stored and shipped.
2 . Description of the Prior Art
A variety of different types of pallets and pallets have been devised for storing and shipping cargo. An example of a prior art pallet is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,294 issued to Depew. The pallets and pallets are commonly produced front wood although a variety of other materials have been used including plastic.
Wooden pallets frequently become damaged as a result of the forks of a forklift impacting the ends of the pallet runners. Further, the pallet runners develop cracks along growth lines as a result of the natural drying process. The lifting force applied by the forklift to the deck boards extending across and attached to the pallet runners results in the force being applied to the runners along the cracks. As a result, the pallet runners will split separating the deck boards from the runners. The damaged wooden pallets are scraped and assigned to the landfill due to the cost involved in repairing the damaged pallets. With the increased emphasis on minimizing landfills and with the further objective of increasing the durability of wooden pallets to allow extended life for reuse, I disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,343 a bracket mountable to the end of the runner securing the deck boards to the runners eliminating the aforementioned splitting and separation problem.
Many of the prior pallets include cross members mounted to the end of the pallet which extend across the width thereof. The cross members are fastened to the pallets by means of vertically extending nails, screws and other fasteners. As a result, when lifting force is applied to the lower surface of the cross member by a fork lift, the lifting force is directed through the vertically extending fasteners to the main body of the pallet resulting in the fasteners being forced upwardly and out of the pallet thereby separating the cross member and leading to the eventual destruction of the pallet. Disclosed herein is a new and improved pallet having the cross member secured to the main body of the pallet by means of horizontally extending fasteners. The lifting force applied to the lower surface of the cross member is thereby directed to the main body of the pallet via the fasteners in a perpendicular direction to the longitudinal axis of the fasteners. As a result, withdrawing force is not applied to the fasteners ensuring the integrity of the assembly.
The pallet disclosed herein is particularly useful in holding large metal coils each weighing 30,000 pounds or more. Further, as many as three coils may be stacked together placing 90,000 pounds on the pallet. The upwardly facing surface of the pallet immediately beneath the stack of coils receives the weight of the coils; however, the upwardly facing surface of the pallet normally located outward of the outside diameter of the coils serves no useful weight supporting function. In fact, that portion of the pallet located outwardly of the coil outside diameter is subject to damage and will bend and break as a result of the forks of a fork lift applying lifting force thereto. I have therefore designed a pallet conforming to the outside diameter of the coil eliminating that portion of the pallet normally located outwardly thereof. A pallet is therefore provided which is more damage proof and also provides cost savings as a result of the smaller size of the pallet. The cost savings has further been maximized by eliminating that portion of the upwardly facing pallet surface normally located beneath the hollow center of the coil since such surface does not provide any weight supporting function.
The modular pallet for supporting the coils incorporates the previously discussed structure of fastening the cross members to the main body of the pallet via horizontally extending fasteners. Thus, in the event excessive lifting force is applied to the pallet, then the fasteners located below the top of the pallet will shear with new fasteners then being readily installed. Another advantage is the prevention of damage to any object resting atop the pallet such as might occur if any vertically extending nail or screw were worked out of the pallet by the lifting force. In order to minimize the cost of a pallet repair, the pallet is modular in construction with the cross members having the same shape and configuration.